It gives us the justification to raise rental
prices by around 10 per cent, although
investors will also benefit from this.”
Most new-build resorts in the Alps
have a rental obligation, which means
owners must make their property avail-
able for holiday lets for an agreed
number of weeks per year in return for a
share of the income collected by themanagement company. This includes a
four-bedroom penthouse in Kaprun for
sale at €899,000 through Alpine Prop-
erty Finders.
“This winter, Zell am See-Kaprun will
also be managed by the same lift com-
pany as the Saalbach valley,” says Giles
Gale of the agent. This means a new
Alpine ski pass will offer access to three
ski regions: Skicircus, Schmittenhöhe
and Kitzsteinhorn, giving skiers 408km
of slopes and making the area more
appealing.“Buyers — from Holland,
Belgium, Czech Republic and Sweden
mostly — see ongoing benefits and the
market is robust,” says Gale.
Prices in Saalbach are comparableContinued on page 2W
hen skiers dream of
buying chalets, they
are seduced by wood
cladding , roaring
stoves, outdoor hot
tubs and iews over snow-coveredv
spruce trees. Rarely are their dreams
interrupted by the metallic clunk
and clang of something as prosaic as
a ski lift. Yet advances in ski-lift technol-
ogy are key to resorts staying in business
— both during the winter season and
in the long term as they grapple with
climate change.
The lifts that resorts are investing in
now not only provide better and speed-
ier access to bigger ski areas, but they
enhance the skier’s experience in other
ways: heated seats, WiFi, even waiters
serving champagne.
Forinvestors in ski properties, prox-
imity to the latest lift technology and
comfort is increasingly important and
for attracting lettings at a time when the
number of ski rips worldwide ist
broadlystatic, rather than increasing.
In the heart of western Europe, the
Alps attract more skiers than anywhere
else in the world — accounting for some
43 per cent ofglobal ski visits — and the
highest proportion of foreign visitors,
according toresearch by Savills. In its
forthcoming Annual Ski Report, pub-
lishedthis month, the agent notes that
although there have been record snow
falls in the past two seasons,Alpine
resorts have still invested significantly
in s ki-lift infrastructure and snow-mak-
ing technology in anticipation of long-
term climate change.
Savills also reports that capital values
have increased in many resorts by an
average of 2 to 5 per cent in the past 12
months, with domestic buyers driving
demand in France and Switzerland.
This future-proofing is also high-
lighted in Knight Frank’s annual ski
index, which notes the completion of
the first stage of €477m of infrastruc-
ture investment in France’s Chamonix
Valley over 40 yearsand €42m in lift
upgrades and new hotels in the Three
Valleys in the run-up to the 2023 FIS
Alpine world ski championships.Higher aims
This year, 136 lifts will be installed or
upgraded across Europe, including 34 in
France, 23 in Austria, 19 in Italy and 18
in Switzerland. So which are most likely
to affect visitor numbers — and prop-
erty prices?
Even after they areapproved, ski lifts
can take decades to be installed anddecision to buy a four-bedroom pent-
house in the centre of Kaprun. “With
three children of primary-school age,
we are a ski-mad family and Austria
is so much more affordable than Japan,”
she says. “The new lift means that we
can get up to the glacier really quickly —
it’s popular when the snow is not great
elsewhere — for skiing nine to 10
months a year. As property owners, we
are future-proofing.”
The lift has also raised prices, says
Ralph van Kollenburg, chief executive
of AvenidA, one of the area’s largest
developers, which also runs Alpin Rent-
als. “Our new-build prices have gone up
from €6,091 to €7,500 per sq m since the
K-Onnection was announced [in 2016].become fully operational. Add to that
growing environmental awareness and
changing local politics, and some inves-
tors may want to bide their time.
In France a lift link between the
resorts of Les Deux Alpes and Alpe
d’Huez has been mooted for at least
20 years, yet “until the first hole is
made in the ground [for the pylons]
property prices will not move upwards”,
says Niven Dyer of French agent
Leggett Immobilier.
Once built, lifts can have a significant
impact. “A new lift that links two
domains has the biggest positive effect
by raising the profile of both resorts, for
example France’s La Plagne and Les
Arcs [which were linked in 2003] and(Top) Top
Mountain
Crosspoint,
Hochgurgl;
(above left) The
K-Onnection
that links
Kaprun, the
Maiskogel and
the
Kitzsteinhorn;
(above right)
Zell am See
Alexander Lohmann/Ötztal
Tourismus; Christian MairitschSaturday 2 November/ Sunday 3 November 2019
The home of prime property: propertylistings.ft.com Follow us on Twitter @FTProperty
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Slopeoff tylish homewares for snowy retreatsS — INTERIORS PAGE 15
Ski Special
Lift your sights
Property Look beyond the|
Alpine vistas to the
infrastructure projects that
will add value to your
investment. ByLiz Rowlinson
Lenzerheide and Arosa in the Swiss can-
ton of Graubünden [linked in 2013],”
says Simon Malster of Investors in Prop-
erty, an Alpine specialist agent.
New links also lengthen the ski season
for resorts lower down the slopes — an
attraction for visitors and investors.
Austria’s new Kaprun-Maiskogel-
Kitzsteinhorn cable car (or K-Onnec-
tion) opening on November 30, will
connect the resort of Zell am See-
Kaprun in Salzburg province (786m),
directly with the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier
(3,203m), with its more reliable snow-
fall and is capable of carrying 2,800 peo-
ple per hour up to the glacier.
The new link was a key factor in
Singapore-based Joanna Aarvold’s‘Until the first hole is
made in the ground for the
pylons property prices willnot move upwards’
NOVEMBER 2 2019 Section:Weekend Time: 10/201930/ - 17:47 User:elizabeth.robinson Page Name:RES1, Part,Page,Edition:RES, 1, 1